My three-year-old daughter is anaphylactic to cashews and pistachios. We have been advised by our allergist to wipe down airline seats and check the floors and seat pockets for nuts every time we fly.
When I went to check in on our recent American Airlines flight, I advised the staff of her allergy. They told me that there is nothing special they would do about it.
Because of American’s policy that we may not pre-board to wipe down the seats, we had to board with the other passengers and contain our three-year-old while we wipe down the seats. We found under every single seat piles of cashew and pistachio nuts.
While I bring my own wipes, I don’t have a vacuum with me to suck up piles of nuts and nut crumbs. There is no way I could get those nuts up to protect my three-year-old, and as you can imagine, toddlers like to get on the floor and sometimes put random things in their mouth.
Our experience on the way back was the same. Additionally, the flight attendant told me that he touched all the bowls of nuts while he was preparing them, and therefore may contaminate any drink she may be served on the plane. It really wouldn’t be so hard for American to stop serving nuts on the plane. I have written to American about this and have not gotten a response.
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